Pictured recipients (from left): Mark Powell and Duane D’Ardenne, Roanoke
Community Garden Association; Kathy Chittum and Mary Jean Levin, Grandin
Theatre Foundation; Jenny Neel and Denise Yopp, Bethany Hall; Tonia Drewery and
Ana Smith Goller, Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley
The Roanoke Women’s Foundation (RWF), a component fund of
Foundation for Roanoke Valley, has announced four recipients of its grant
awards, at $262,000 the largest total given to date.
The latest grants presented in December, bring to $1,506,000
the total in grants funded since the organization’s inception in 2004.
“In our eighth year, with 131 members, The Roanoke Women’s
Foundation has now exceeded over $1.5 million in total giving; a significant
achievement this year in a down economy” says Kandy Elliott, co-founder of the
RWF.
Elliott and co-founder Ginny
Jarrett established the RWF as a way for women in the Roanoke and New River
Valleys to pool their philanthropic goals and resources in order to make
significant gifts to the community.
“The growth of The Roanoke Women’s Foundation over the years
has been exceptional, and these latest awards continue the tradition that RWF
has built of making high-impact, transformative grants,” added Alan Ronk,
executive director of Foundation for Roanoke Valley.
Now in its eighth year, RWF has funded 30 organizations and
programs.
This year, 48 organizations
applied for funding from the RWF.
Through a rigorous grant making process, that number was narrowed to a
group that was presented to the membership for their vote.
Based on those results, the following grants
were awarded in the 2012 grant cycle:
Bethany Hall, Inc. - $60,000 to support its “Kitchen
Renovation” project for the women in their residential and day treatment
substance abuse program.
Their kitchen
is at the heart of this healing community; last year it produced 10,863 meals and
provided an empowering opportunity to create baked goods and treats used in the
women’s fundraising efforts.
Existing
appliances and cabinetry are woefully inadequate.
This funding will include upgrading appliances
to commercial quality, new cabinets, and a moveable work table.
Bethany Hall is only one of two
single-gender, long term programs in Virginia that allow children and newborns
to remain with their mothers in treatment.
Grandin Theatre Foundation, Inc. - $95,000 to upgrade
their 35 mm projection equipment to digital equipment.
While 35 mm film was the movie industry
standard for over 100 years, in the near future it will no longer be a viable
technology.
This grant will enable the
Grandin to remain competitive and viable in order to show newly released films.
The Roanoke Women’s Foundation grant
will help to offset the total project cost of $275,000. The Grandin will launch
a public campaign to raise additional funding needed to complete the
conversion.
Roanoke Community Garden Association - $70,000 to
provide funds to design, build and start the Association’s fourth garden, The
Mountain View Garden.
The garden will be
built on the adjacent vacant lot by the Mountain View Community Center.
The new garden will serve the Mountain View,
Grandin Road, Old Southwest and downtown neighborhoods.
The gardens increase locally grown organic
food or hundreds of underprivileged and handicapped citizens as well as
refugees and immigrants.
Residents who
register to use a plot are asked to pay $20 and volunteer an hour a week to
help maintain their bed and help others.
This location provides a flat plot and plenty of space for aspiring
gardeners.
Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley - $37,000 to
partially fund a staff attorney designated as the domestic violence specialist.
The balance of funds needed will be provided through another grant and general
funds.
Domestic violence is a persistent
problem in our communities.
Reported
cases have risen dramatically (45.9% in 2010).
Intervention can save a victim’s life, save her or his home and the home
of any children involved, and has an impact beyond those immediately
involved.
Legal Aid is the only
organization in the valley that provides a full range of legal representation
to victims of domestic violence.
